Photos by Rich Carlson (City 26), H.B. Elkins (Old 58), Alan Hamiton (Hist 89A), Alex Nitzman (Trk 222), FDOT (Red Alt 1)
Photos by Rich Carlson (City 26), H.B. Elkins (Old
58), Alan Hamiton (Hist 89A), Alex Nitzman (Trk 222), FDOT (Red
Alt 1)
Bannered US routes have been in wide use since the early 1930's. Some of the earliest examples I have seen are the US 27A's in central Michigan in 1932. A 1932 AASHO policy statement allowed for cities to erect "Alternate" routes within a city, as long as these routes reconnected with the main route, without AASHO approval. The next year AASHO attempt to regain control of these short system additions, but the states where such routes had been adopted had established a precedent. Many states still consider it none of AASHTO's business if small, local additions to the US route system are posted. These banners have also been seen in the use of an alphabetical-based suffix system, decreasing in importance as the letters progressed: A for for the longer main rooute following Alternate; B for a Bypass around a city center; C for City traffic into the heart of downtown and T for Temporary. Temp US Routes have been suffixed "T" since the 1920's. The suffix B is also used for Business routes by many states now. Y has been seen used for Spur routes. Some states use suffixes as branches and loops off a mainline route, like NY 11B off of US 11. This would be Alt US 11 in many other states, and is not a Business or Bypass route. The primary source for this site was U.S. Numbered Highways - 1989 edition published by AASHTO. Additional information has been gathered from old road atlases and maps, information E-mailed to me, various websites posted by other people, and personal observations. The historical routes for these pages are still being updated, and will be for the forseeable future. Current routes are complete per AASHTO data, and not field verified. Assistance is welcomed and encouraged.
Alternate 2 
Bus 2 3 4 
By-Pass 
City
Hist 
Optional 
Scn 
Spur
Temporary 
Toll 
Trk
"Connector" or CONN routes listed
under SPUR, OLD is under Historic
Click here to E-mail me with any comments, additions, or requests for more details on specific roads
The following people, among others, have contributed to the list of bannered routes: Dave Backlin, James Baughn, Chris Bessert, Mark Bozanich, Neil Bratney, Rich Carlson, Monte Castleman, Ernest Cline, Randy Coleman, Matt Craig, Jenn Dolari, H.B. Elkins, Jon Enslin, Marc Fannin, Sam Feldman, Andrew Field, Adam Froehlig, Sandor G, Thomas Gill, Brandon Gorte, Larry Hall, Alan Hamilton, Daniel Hobson, Pete Jenior, Cameron Kaiser, Chris Kelly, Richie Kennedy, Jeremy Lance, Chris Lawrence, Scott Maness, Brian Miller, Micheal Miller, Dan Moraseski, J.P. Nasiatka, Jacob Newkirk, Alex Nitzman, Brian Powell, James Powell, Timothy Reichard, Mark Roberts, Jim Rumbarger, Matt Salek, Chris Sampang, Frederick Sanders, James Schul, Richard Spencer, Dan Stober, Gus Tziavelis, Ed Wilson, Craig Zeni (Note: names are as given to me)
This page last updated Wednesday, August 31, 2005
This web page first posted July 1, 1999 by RVD